Westboro Baptist Church are at it again with the horrific announcement that the bastards plan to picket the funeral of late Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman. Claiming that they will sing their “parody” of Ozzy Osbourne‘s “Crazy Train” “at full voice” during the Slayer guitarist’s funeral.

Jeff Hanneman died at approximately 11:00am on Thursday the 2nd of May near his Southern California home. He was just 49. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. Due to a terminal illness called necrotising fasciitis which he is thought to have contracted from a spider bite, 2 years earlier.

Necrotising fasciitis is more commonly known as a flesh eating disease, which is caused by a bacterial infection of the deeper layers of skin and subcutaneous tissues.

“Necrotizing fasciitis is quickly progressing, having greater risk of developing in the immunocompromised due to conditions like diabetes, cancer, etc. It is a severe disease of sudden onset and is usually treated immediately with high doses of intravenous antibiotics.” – Wikipedia

Jeff Hanneman dead at the age of 49

Slayer fans have become outraged by the news, with social media sites like Facebook daring the church to even try to protest at the event, that they might meet their quick demise. The onslaught of Hate for the church has been universal by the metal community.

Westboro Baptist Church — is fringe group of fundamentalist Christians who continues to make headlines around the world for their extreme anti-gay views and outrageous protests at the funerals of U.S. soldiers, regardless of the soldiers actual sexuality. The so called “Church” first used lyrics from the Ozzy song “Crazy Train” at events surrounding a Supreme Court hearing in 2011. Two daughters of the church’s founder used the paraphrased lyrics from the song at the post-Supreme Court hearing press conference in Washington D.C.

Ozzy shows his disgust for the Westboro Bastard Church

Ozzy commented “I am sickened and disgusted by the use of ‘Crazy Train’ to promote messages of hate and evil by a ‘church,'” in response to the news of his song being used by Westboro Baptist Church.

In a June 2010 during an interview on “Rockline”, Ozzy Osbourne slated the Westboro Baptist Church’s protest of Ronnie James Dio’s funeral. “I thought it was in such bad taste that those people had those banners about Ronnie James Dio. That’s disgusting. They say that we’re the anti-christ. Well, what makes them any better?”

Crazy Train Parody on YouTube

The Westboro Baptist Church has even had the audacity to publicise their awful “parody” of “Crazy Train” on YouTube. I have included it for reference, but I really don’t enjoy sharing anything these worthless excuses for human beings have created.

Westboro Baptist Church’s “Crazy Train” “parody” lyrics:

Amazing, that’s how God rolls.
Millions of people, drowning in woe.
Crazy, it’s much too late.
To speak about love, when you brought on is hate.
Crying about your feelings, or your sin, no shame.

You’re going straight to hell, on a crazy train.
You’re going straight to hell, on a crazy train.

Let’s go!

You listen to preachers, your leaders are fools.
You’re raping false prophets, who make their own rules.
The base is ascending, to rule and control.
The media sells it, and you pay the toll.

The station goes deceiving, their torment you in flames.
You’re going straight to hell, on a crazy train.

We’ve told you your destruction is imminent.
You should have listen to our words.

Isn’t God’s fury?, That’s forced onto them,
The ruling rebellion, God is made to numb.
Crazy, the pride as you well.
Your birth will be brutal, he will say what is fair!

God is not been sleeping, he’s gonna bring the pain.
It’s time for your final ride on this crazy train.
Your final stop is hell on this crazy train.

Other disgusting stuff the Westboro Baptist Church has been up to

The Wall Street Journal describes the Westboro Baptist Church as a “tiny Kansas church who preaches that U.S. deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality and abortion.”

‘You’re Going to Hell,’ ‘Thank God for Dead Soldiers,’ and ‘God Hates You’ are some of Westboro’s favourite slogans to use at their gatherings.

Phil Demmel appeared at GAK in Brighton U.K. for Jackson Guitar Clinic

Machine Head Guitarist Phil Demmel has just completed a European, Jackson-sponsored guitar clinic tour. A video of his appearance at the event at GAK (Guitar Amp & Keyboards) in Brighton, U.K. can be seen below. GAK is a shop which <a href=”http://www.soulsanctuarymusic.com&#8221; title=”Soul Sanctuary“>Soul Sanctuary visit fairy regularly, sucks that I didn’t know about this event before hand or I would have made sure to be there.

Phil Demmel and the rest of Machine Head celebrated Demmel’s tenth anniversary as an official member of the band earlier this month.

Machine Head Guitarist at Jackson Guitar Clinic!

Phil Demmel joined Machine Head a decade after his previous band, Vio-Lence disbanded. Vio-Lence was originally formed by Robb Flynn, Machine Head’s vocalist and guitarist, and Phil Demmel when they were just teenagers. In 1992 Flynn went on to form Machine Head, then Demmel joined them in 2003.

In February Machine Head fired their bassist Adam Duce. The band’s front-man Robb Flynn explained in a post he made online: “We may have fired Adam on [February 11], but Adam quit Machine Head well over a decade ago. He just never bothered to tell anyone… but we all knew it.” Machine Head recently held auditions for a replacement bassist, but they have not yet made any official announcement as to who.

Aliases (Formed by ex members of SikTh) are giving away a free download of their newly released single, “Exasperated” via Bandcamp. They have also released an awesome new video, with some very creepy twists which can be seen below. Exasperated features the band’s new vocalist Joe Rosser who I must say has an amazing set of lungs, which create some beautiful harmonies on this new 5 minute riffage fest. Speaking about Rosser as the new vocalist and addition to the bands line up guitarist Pin said:

“After things didn’t work out with our last vocalist Leigh [Dale], we put an extremely thorough process in place for selecting a new vocalist for Aliases. We had a massive number of applicants with some awesome talent come through. Joe Rosser stood out from the start returning amazing versions of tracks from our last EP, Safer Than Reality.”

Pin continued “When we met him we were all on the same wavelength as people, he seemed like he had been in the band for a long time. Next was to see how he wrote and so we gave him the track which has become Exasperated, he absolutely ripped it up. The guy is extremely versatile, has amazing pitching and rhythm and is going to bring so much to the band. This is the start of the next exciting phase of Aliases and it’s going to be hectic.”

The new video from Aliases has definitely put the band on the map for me the vocals really kill on every level.

Joe Rosser also commented about his joining the ranks of Aliases:

“It’s been great to bond with a group of musicians with the same sort of outlook on music as me. I think the moment we shared ideas we gelled together really well. Not only that but the fact that they are such great people to be around, we have become good friends. Working on the single has been so much fun.”

Rosser when on to say “From laying down ideas to progressing it to a full length song, it more or less took its course and the rest of the bend felt what I added gave it a better twist than they anticipated. Recording the video was insane. Lack of sleep, lots of energy drinks and a huge office block with a DIY bedroom set… It couldn’t have been more surreal!”

Rosser showed great admiration for the video director Ben Herbert by saying “Ben Herbert who directed it was so sound to work with and brought out the best in the ideas we had for the visual aspect of it all. I’ve admired the band for some time and never thought I could match the standard, but it seems this time I proved myself wrong and I am looking forward to a progressive future with Aliases. It’s gonna be a blast!”

The Dillinger Escape Plan the insane mathcore outfit we all know and love/hate have just released their new video for “When I Lost My Bet“, which can be seen below. “When I Lost My Bet” is from Dillinger’s fifth full-length album, entitled “One Of Us Is The Killer“, due to be released on the 14th of May 2013 through Dillinger‘s own Party Smasher Inc., in partnership with the North American leg of Sumerian Records.

The album “One Of Us Is The Killer” was recorded in Southern California with longtime producer Steve Evetts (Glassjaw, Suicide Silence), with additional production being done at guitarist/co-founder Ben Weinman‘s studio. The albums Mastering will is to be taken care of by Tom Baker (Deftones, Nine Inch Nails).

One Of Us Is The Killer by The Dillinger Escape Plan

The Dillinger Escape Plan frontman and vocalist Greg Puciato spoke to AOL’s Noisecreep about the bands time in the studio and the recording process for new album: “Dillinger [Escape Plan] is a different beast in tracking than most normal bands. Even Steve has told me that there’s no other band that he has recorded that requires this amount of attention to detail. We take a longer amount of time to do one thing than most bands take to do ten. At this point, talking to Ben about it, we only do this once every three years on average so ten years from now I don’t want to look back and think, ‘Fuck man, we should have finished that one three weeks earlier!’ Who cares? You want it to be right and you want it to be the thing that was the closest to what your vision actually was.”

Greg Puciato continued regarding the direction of the new Dillinger Escape Plan material: “I can hear [the influence of old punk and hardcore records] a lot. I can definitely hear that in some of the riffs, which are really aggressive. It’s not a blatant hardcore record or anything like that. I actually think this is the most all over the place and weirdest record we’ve ever written. It’s the first one since I joined the band where Ben has sent me songs and I’ve been like, ‘What the fuck is happening? This sounds like a beehive!’”

The new record from Dillinger Escape plan is bound to be insane no matter which way you look at it, good or bad. Whether you appreciate the complex musical structures and in your face carnage, or it just sounds like a wall of noise. “One Of Us Is The Killer” is bound to get some kind of reaction from the general music loving public at large. What are your thoughts on the new Dillinger Escape Plan album, are you excited, do you not even care? What do you think of their new video? Let us know in the comments section down below.

Fear Factory frontman Burton C. Bell has been caught on video singing Metallica‘s classic hit “Enter Sandman“. Filmed at the “Rock-A-Holic” live rock and metal karaoke night on the 11th of April, at Skinny’s Lounge in North Hollywood, California. The video can be seen below.

Burton C. Bell has recorded a cover version “Enter Sandman” back in 2001 for “Metallic Assault – A Tribute To Metallica” a Metallica Tribute album released by the record label Big Eye Music. On stage with Bell were John Christ (Guitar), Robert Trujillo (Bass) and Tommy Aldridge (Drums).

As I’m sure all of you are fully aware “Enter Sandman” was the lead single from Metallica’s celebrated 1991 record; fan dubbed The Black Album.

Fear Factory are set to perform their 1995 sophomore album, “Demanufacture”, in its entirety aboard 70,000 Tons Of Metal 2014. The world’s biggest heavy metal cruise, due to set sail between the 27th and 31st of January.

How Do You Start A Rock Band?

You have talent for music, you love playing, and now you want to take that extra step and create a band but don’t know where to start. Many musicians starting out don’t know where to begin on their journey towards musical success. Some musicians want to be a part of a band whereas some want to play solo; however both involve a different style of music.

Putting together a band can be difficult; especially if you don’t know many people that want to be a part of one, however doing so isn’t impossible. Whether you are looking to just start a garage band or even take it a step further and start to perform at venues, consider some of the tips below.

Friends and Family

There may be a family member or friend that enjoys playing a specific instrument and wants to find band mates to play with. If you haven’t already asked the people you know whether they are willing to put together a band and play together, then do so! Consider asking your friends if they know of anyone that is willing to join in.

Social Media

Social media doesn’t just give you the ability to connect with people you know, but also people you don’t know. Websites such as Twitter give you the ability to include hashtags in your tweets so others who search that keyword can see your tweet. Soundcloud is another great way to connect with other musicians.

Make sure you post on your personal social media accounts stating you are on the lookout and want to start a band. Be sure to stay consistent on these sites.

Networking

Find events you can go to where you are able to connect and network with others that are interested in music. Don’t be shy to approach someone. In fact, taking a friend or two with you can be extremely beneficial as to who you can potentially meet.

Of course, it isn’t usual to find a band mate overnight, so give it some time to get to know the people you meet. Check out their interests and get to know their take on music and this will help you decide if they qualify as a potential band member.

Practice, Practice and Practice

Once you have found your band mates, make sure you practice, practice, and practice. Even if you set up a band just for pleasurable garage play, the better you all play together the more enjoyable your sessions will be.

Remember that everything takes time, and putting together a band for a pleasure to the ears session or even potentially playing at venues is not easy.

About The Author:

Robert is a professional musician and songwriter. He has written his own guitar tutorial that is easy for children to learn. In his spare he enjoys hiking, enjoying the outdoors and going to jazz clubs.

Be one of the lucky few who enjoy what they do and who get paid for it too

People who get to do what they love and still get paid for it are truly lucky. They no longer call it ‘work’ as they get to enjoy what they do every day. Case in point: musicians who were discovered, were signed to record labels and who tour around the world playing their music in front of their fans. They have the best jobs.

If you’re a music enthusiast and want to be one of the fortunate people who have a career in music, you’re in luck. There are many jobs you can get that are related to music. Even if you don’t get signed to a label and sell 1 million copies of your album, you can still go to the office enjoying a job that’s related to music.

To be highly successful in these jobs you’ll need to have at least one of these: mad skills in playing an instrument, ability to identify good music aesthetics, knowledge in music history, and of course great love for music.

Recording Artist/ Live Performer

Almost all music lovers dream of recording their own songs, playing them live in front of an audience, and gaining recognition and awards. Of course, not every musician can be a multiplatinum award winner. Still nowadays, it has been easier to produce your own music and be a DIY Musician. You can record your own tracks digitally and then sell them online. You can even record your own music video then post it on the Internet. If you’re really good, people will pick up on it and you’ll get the recognition you deserve.

If you don’t want to record your own songs and just want to play music, you can also be a studio or session musician. Lots of artists need other musicians to play with them in their recordings and play with them during gigs.

Composer/Arranger

You can work behind the scenes and be the person responsible for writing good songs for an established artist or an up-and-coming star. Lady Gaga, before recording her own album and being insanely famous, wrote songs for Britney Spears, Fergie and the Pussycat Dolls. You can also be a composer or an arranger.

Producer/ Record Engineer

Own a recording studio and be a music producer. You can help new artists make a name. If owning a studio is still beyond your means, you can also work in a recording studio as a record engineer and help artists in their recording.

Film, TV or Video Game Composer

Film, TV or video game scoring is a lucrative career you can get yourself into. There are a number of productions in need of musicians to score their work. An example of an artist who made it big in this type of music career is Trent Reznor, founding member of the industrial metal rock band Nine Inch Nails (NIN). His scoring in the movie “The Social Network” in 2011 had won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Original Score. In 2013, he also won a Grammy Award for his scoring on the movie “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

Shop Owner

Open your own music store and sell in-demand and high quality music instruments like acoustic guitars, electric guitars, amps and electronic drums. If you don’t have enough resources to open up an actual shop, you can own an online music store instead and just set up a virtual store over the Internet. Another alternative is to be a music store sales assistant.

Teacher/Coach

You can teach music to budding young musicians and interested adults and be a music coach. You’ll need to have the musical skills and knowledge to impart to your students and the patience to teach music. There are a lot of talented musicians that have taken the time to teach music like Australia bass legend Victor Rounds and Andrew Gillespie, founding member of Aussie progressive rock band “Floating Me.” Rounds and Gillespie are currently a bass coach and vocal couch at BigMusic in Australia.

If you have the resources you can even open your own musical school in Sydney and hire exceptional musicians to be the music coach.

Music Writer/Photographer

What better way to be in the music scene than to be a music journalist or photographer. You attend different music events, get a backstage pass, and even interview artists. You’ll need to have a knack in writing, have a good understanding of the music industry, and appreciate good music.

These are just few of the many careers you can get into to fuel your passion in music. The key is to not give up on your dream. If you really want to be a multiplatinum award-winning artist, it’s not too late to pick up a guitar and enrol in a music class. If you’re happy just being around music, you can choose any of these jobs and enjoy going to work every day and be paid doing what you love.

About The author:

Debra Wright blogs about a plethora of topics including electronic drums and other fields. Debra considers Big Music as one of the leaders in Music Stores.